Sea-Floor Images and Data from Multibeam Surveys in San Francisco Bay, Southern California, Hawaii, the Gulf of Mexico, and Lake Tahoe, California-Nevada

By Peter Dartnell and James V. Gardner

U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS-55
Version 1.0

1999

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
BRUCE BABBITT, Secretary

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Charles G. Groat, Director

Introduction

Accurate base maps are a prerequisite for any geological study, regardless
of the objectives. Land-based studies commonly utilize aerial photographs,
USGS 7.5-minute quadrangle maps, and satellite images as base maps. Until
now, studies that involve the ocean floor have been at a disadvantage due
to an almost complete lack of accurate marine base maps. Many base maps
of the sea floor have been constructed over the past century but with a
wide range in navigational and depth accuracies.

Only in the past few years has marine surveying technology advanced far
enough to produce navigational accuracy of 1 meter and depth resolutions
of 50 centimeters. The Pacific Seafloor Mapping Project, U.S. Geological
Survey, Western Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Menlo Park, California,
U.S.A. in cooperation with the Ocean Mapping Group, University of New Brunswick,
Canada is using this new technology to systematically map the ocean floor
and lakes. This type of marine surveying, called Multibeam surveying, collects
high-resolution bathymetry and backscatter data that can be used for a variety
of basemaps, GIS coverages, and scientific visualization methods.

This is an interactive CD-ROM that contains images, movies, and data
of all the surveys the Pacific Seafloor Mapping Project has completed up
to January 1999. Images and movies on this CD-ROM, such as shaded relief
of the bathymetry, backscatter, oblique views, 3-D views, and Quicktime
movies (San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Lake Tahoe) help the viewer to visualize
the multibeam data. This CD-ROM also contains ARC/INFO export (.e00) files
and full resolution TIFF images of all the survey sites that can be downloaded
and used in many GIS software. Click on the "Start Here" button
above to choose the survey location you are interested in.

CONTACTS

Project Chief:

James V. Gardner

jgardner@usgs.gov

GIS Manager:

Peter Dartnell

pdartnell@usgs.gov

View the Readme file

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Availability of this publication

This publication consists of the online version of a CD-ROM publication, U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS-55. The data for this publication total 587 MB. This report is for sale on CDROM by: